What Scares Me

Born in 1970, I well remember The Cold War. I spent the 80s waiting for nuclear war to begin. I really did. I was so glad to see the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union. For awhile, I didn’t worry much about Russia. It seemed that they were our enemy of the past and we had plenty of current enemies on the horizon. Then Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia. I immediately resumed worrying about Russia. Putin’s past in the KGB gave me a lot of concern. I can now see that my fears were valid.

Now, President Putin is making threats associated with the problems happening in Crimea. Claims he is worried for the ethnic Russians living in Crimea. Claims he is looking to protect the people. Not all Crimeans seem to be opposed to the idea of Russia taking over Crimea. Here’s the problem. Crimea belongs to the Ukraine. When the Ukrainians gave up their nuclear weapons, three countries promised to protect the borders of the Ukraine: the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. Now Russia rather than protecting the borders, is looking to take territory. Territory they promised to protect from invaders. Russia does not have the right to go in and just take the territory. This leads to a question. What do we do?

I know I don’t want another war. I am certain there are plenty who feel the same way. There are probably those who think we should stand back and do nothing about Russia’s actions. However, I in no way think that Putin will stop with Crimea if he is allowed to go in and take the territory without a response. I just don’t. I feel certain that he would like to begin reassembling the USSR and this is his chance to start. We absolutely can’t allow that to happen. The results would be disastrous.

I wish I had a solution for the current crisis. I am glad that talks continue, but they don’t seem to be wielding results. I just know the current situation makes me think too much of The Cold War. That scares me.